


His Welfare is of My Concern

by keepitdreamin



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Daredevil Bingo, From college to post season 2, Gen, M/M, Slight AU regarding Matt's ability to take care of himself but otherwise canon compliant, Weight Gain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-07-29 21:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7700749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keepitdreamin/pseuds/keepitdreamin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Matt's not too good about taking care of himself and Foggy gets kind of a complex about feeding him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	His Welfare is of My Concern

**Author's Note:**

> First Daredevil fic! This fills the "weight gain" square on my Daredevil Bingo card.
> 
> Title from The Hollies "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

There's one thing that every Nelson, regardless of political party and religious leanings, can agree upon: they _love_ food. From growing their own vegetables to being butchers to cooking, amateurishly or professionally, to trying and eating anything at least once, every single one of them is enthusiastic about their food. It’s how they all connect and show their love; throughout arguments and striking differences in opinions, they can still sit down to dinner and appreciate it with each other. Which is why it’s really not a surprise when Foggy, after only about a week of knowing his new roommate, develops a bit of a complex about feeding him.

Matt is pretty much all Foggy could wish for in a roommate and friend; he’s smart and funny and a genuinely _good_ person. But he’s also, there’s no better word for it, _scrawny_. He’s got muscles and definition like _damn_ but he doesn’t _eat,_ and the first time Foggy sees him shirtless, he can actually _see_ _Matt’s_ _ribs._ This is just, _not acceptable_ to Foggy, and since actually talking to Matt about it is out of the question (not only would it be horribly awkward, but it could break this new, fragile friendship they have), he does what he can.

Foggy obsessively buys snacks till he narrows down what Matt’s favorites are then pretty much exclusively gets those and shares (Matt sometimes gets a little guilty about that, but after a while of Foggy narrating his rolling eyes and still pushing snacks at him, the guilt gradually dies down), and he drags Matt to lunch or dinner (he doesn’t count his own calories but he counts Matt’s and either encourages Matt to get something himself or loads up and pushes it on him when they sit) and to the cafe for “study breaks” where he introduces Matt to the wonderful world of high calorie, sugary _monstrosities_ of coffee (Sugar High Matt is one of Foggy’s favorite Matts right after Happy Drunk Matt and tying with Sleepy Matt).

When their friendship is on a slightly more solid ground, Foggy brings Matt home for weekend dinners where Mamma Nelson takes up the fight and encourages Matt to fourths (without ever once actually saying, or even insinuating, that he’s too skinny, god Foggy loves his mom), and then Thanksgiving which is more than a little overwhelming with the whole Nelson brood running around, but Matt eats 3 slices of pie and they go back to the dorm with more than enough food to fill their mini fridge.

Slowly but surely, Matt gains weight. He’s nowhere near Foggy’s size (he has a _ridiculous_ metabolism that Foggy is only occasionally jealous of), but he also doesn’t look like he’s drowning in his sweaters anymore.

Foggy keeps this up through undergrad in their tiny dorm and law school in their only slightly bigger apartment, and even after they graduate and get separate places, he brings bagels to their literal closet and drags him out for lunch/dinner or plans movie and take out nights. After they quit L&Z and get their own firm, he sees less of Matt outside of work, which is, you know, whatever. They’re adults now, real adults with people’s actual lives in their hands, so if Matt needs alone time to decompress that’s cool. They don’t get dinner as often now, really only if they’re still working at the office, and movie and take out nights drop down to once in a blue moon. Foggy does bring in muffins sometimes from that hella expensive bakery that’s Matt’s favorite (and Karen’s now too); he makes sure Matt eats lunch, either ordering in or dragging him out; and he might complain about their clients paying them in food, but he’s secretly pleased that he can send Matt home with an entire casserole (and know that Matt would feel too guilty to let it go to waste). That’s really all he can do now, and he contents himself with the knowledge that Matt’s a full grown Adult who can take care of himself.

When Claire cuts Matt’s shirt off on That Night, Foggy can see his ribs and feels, impossibly, even worse.

 

-

 

After everything, after the shit show that was Punisher and Matt still _lying_ and the real End of Nelson and Murdock, Foggy’s doing alright. He’s got the new job now, which is pretty awesome and pays in actual _money,_ and he’s got a new apartment, and none of his partners are actively _lying_ to him about being vigilante superheroes (he meets Jessica Jones during his 3 rd week and is both impressed and terrified. He tells her this and she gives him a faintly amused smirk and doesn’t hit him so Foggy’s pretty sure their friends).

He’s got a new life now; it’s _good_ for him, and he tries his hardest to forget for a while, but worrying about Matt has been his default setting for so long now that it slips right through his walls like they weren’t even there. He sees a clip of Daredevil on the news, limping and protecting his right side like somethings wrong (is he still seeing Claire? Is someone patching him up or is he doing it by himself in that empty apartment?). There’s a good shot of him on the cover of the newspaper and does the suit look a little too big on him? (Who’s making sure Matt’s eating now?) He goes to his parent’s for dinner and they don’t mention Matt (there was one teary phone call early on where Foggy gave them the vaguest possible explanation and asked them to leave it alone), but his mom, as always, makes too much food, and when he goes home laden with Tupperware, there’s a split second where he thinks about the best way to get Matt to take some home with him (Matt adores Foggy’s mom’s cooking, but he still gets hung up on “charity” and “pity” sometimes) before he Remembers and goes home with a bitter taste in his mouth.

So Foggy lives in his apartment that’s a little too empty (Foggy’s used to living in smaller places, so he doesn’t exactly have a lot of stuff) and he works at his job that’s a little too quiet (he can’t just turn and make a joke anymore; well, he can but these new people don’t have 10 years of friendship to really _get_ it) and he worries about Daredevil/Matt a little too much (he has a recurring nightmare that involves an emaciated Matt literally snapping in half during a fight; when he wakes up, he cries and resists the urge to call Matt).

 

-

 

Foggy’s not sure when Daredevil started stalking him. He first noticed Something about two months ago (he’s not sure what, there was just a _feeling_ of somebody being around when no one was), but he wasn’t _sure_ till a week ago. He might have only been doing it for those two months, or he might have been this whole time ( _why,_ though? Does Matt miss him? Does he worry about Foggy the way Foggy worries about him?). Foggy spends about two _more_ months with this knowledge- unsure of what to do or how to proceed- before the choice is taken from him.

He has seen Matt look worse, which is at once both a terrifying thought and a comforting one. He’s still standing at least and doesn’t even look in danger of falling down (Foggy had a terrible flashback when he opened the window to That Day and a man in black bleeding out on the floor), and his suit appears mostly intact aside from a gash in the arm. That gash is why he’s here, why he stumbled on the fire escape, why Foggy woke up with a start and raced to him, why he’s standing in Foggy’s new living room, cradling his arm and looking exhausted and still wearing that _stupid fucking mask._ After Foggy lets Matt in, they just end up… standing there and looking at each other (well, Foggy’s looking at Matt and Matt’s turned towards him, so he’s probably doing that sonar/echolocation “world on fire” thing and listening to Foggy’s heart).

It’s a long while before Foggy can muster up enough of himself to say, in a voice that’s not as firm as he’d like but not as shaky as he expected, “Sit.” Matt looks panicked and makes a vague attempt to leave, shaking his head with a wince and edging to the still open window, and Foggy’s had _enough_. “Matthew Michael Murdock,” he channels the tone his mother always uses when he’s doing something incredibly stupid and is pleased when Matt immediately freezes, “you are going to sit on that fucking couch, and you’re going to let me see and treat your arm and whatever other wounds you’ve got, whether you think they’re bad or not. You’re going to take whatever painkillers I give you, and you’re going to eat some of Mom’s leftover meatloaf so you don’t die in my apartment. Got it?” Matt hesitates for a split second before sitting gingerly on the couch. “Good,” Foggy says, before hurrying to the extra large first aid kit (it was stocked with Claire’s suggestions Before and he’s kept it all together without much thought) he keeps in his bathroom.

Matt looks exhausted and rundown and when his shirt’s removed, Foggy can actually _count_ his ribs across the room and has to take a moment to keep from freaking out completely. Matt barely says two words to him, and after his initial outburst, Foggy isn’t much better. Neither of them is prepared to talk tonight, so they just don’t. They don’t talk as Foggy stitches up Matt’s arm or as he heats up the food or as he hands over the Tylenol with a glass of water. Foggy doesn’t say anything when he grabs a change of clothes and a pillow, blanket and sheets and dumps them next to Matt on the couch, and Matt doesn’t say anything when he runs his hands over the clothes (the well-worn ultra soft Columbia tee that Matt always stole when they were roommates) or when he picks them up and heads to the bathroom.

While Matt’s changing, Foggy sets up the couch, and he resolutely does _not_ think about the fact his spare sheets are _silk_ because of Matt, or how Matt had taken a bite of that meatloaf and looked ready to cry, or any of the numerous things about tonight that require thought. Instead, he smooths the sheets and plumps the pillow with a carefully blank mind, and when Matt comes back through, barefoot and carrying the Daredevil suit awkwardly, Foggy doesn’t think about how much the shirt hangs off him or how even his _feet_ have scars now _god_ , and gestures to the corner where the trunk Marci had given him as a housewarming gift sits still empty. Matt catches the gesture and nods, and Foggy doesn’t know what about this moment breaks him, but he really just can’t handle any more of   _whatever_  this is. He heads quickly back to his room before he starts crying or screaming, pausing only to say “Good night” before closing the door. He thinks he might hear a reply from Matt, but he’s too exhausted to care as he climbs into bed and falls asleep.

Foggy wakes up in the morning slowly, then all at once because _Matt stayed the night_. It might have been a dream, though, which is a terrible thought, so when he leaves his room a minute later to see Matt still there, sitting on his couch, fiddling with the hem of his shirt and looking so much like that scared kid he’d first made friends with, he nearly cries. He doesn’t though, just stares at him probably more than is appropriate (but what’s appropriate in this situation anyway?) before shaking his head to clear it. “Okay,” he says decisively, “breakfast,” because everything’s a mess but he’s still a Nelson and when in doubt, Nelson’s eat.

Matt looks like he wants to protest, but instead, he stands and trails behind Foggy to the kitchen. It’s a familiar scene straight from their law school days: Foggy moving around the kitchen cooking with whatever they have in the fridge (the difference now is he can afford _actual_ groceries) and Matt leaning against an out of the way counter, letting him know before anything burns (it's weird now, knowing that Matt's using his super senses and doesn't jut have an eerily accurate internal clock). Foggy makes too much food and pushes a little more than half of it onto Matt’s plate, and they eat sitting at the small kitchen table.

“So,” Foggy only breaks the silence when Matt’s eaten a good amount of food, “how long have you been stalking me?”

Matt ducks his head and moves his eggs around with his fork with an intensity that’s not really warranted.

Foggy sighs. He’s _tired_ of all of this and for some reason he got saddled with being the Responsible one here, so he says, “Look, Matt. I don’t know why you’ve been coming around. I can only make assumptions that range from ‘it’s on your way to fight crime’ to ‘you want to go full Hanibal Lector on me,’ so I really need you to use your words.” Matt still doesn’t look like he wants to answer so Foggy adds, with as much pleading as he can manage, “ _Please, Matty._ ”

Matt looks stricken (it’s really not fair to guilt Matt into talking but a lot of things about this aren’t fair) and breathes deeply for a second before finally mumbling, “I don’t think you’ll like it.”

So, he’s avoiding, but at least it’s not a straight up lie; that’s some progress there. Foggy keeps this in mind as he replies, “Buddy, I might not like the truth but I like it a hell of a lot more than a lie.”

“Okay,” Matt says quietly, mostly to himself, before lifting his head to Foggy, “I- I needed to hear your heartbeat. I needed to be sure that you were… that you were safe.”

Foggy turns this over in his head as he eats some more. It’s, well, it’s not as bad as it could be. Matt was worried, knew that Foggy was mad and wouldn’t want to see him, so he surreptitiously checked up on him. Foggy can’t honestly say that if he didn’t see things about Daredevil every other day, that he wouldn’t be doing the same thing (minus the whole climbing around on rooftops nonsense). And, sure, the listening to heartbeats thing is still _wildly_ invasive, but Foggy came to terms with that a while ago, and it won’t do either of them any good to keep getting mad about it. Finally, he nods and says simply, “Okay.”

They don’t say anything else till after they’re done with breakfast and Foggy gets a bag for Matt to carry his suit home in. “Take care of your arm,” Foggy says when they’re standing awkwardly at the door.

“I will,” Matt replies, and Foggy actually believes him which is a pretty major improvement.

“Well,” Foggy opens the door, “bye then Matt.”

“Bye.” Matt nods and steps out the door, but before leaving totally, pauses and adds quietly, “Thank you Foggy.”

Foggy’s not sure what to say to that (you’re welcome seems wildly inadequate) but thankfully Matt doesn’t seem to expect him to reply, just nods again and walks away.

 

The next night, Foggy leaves a bottle of water and three protein bars on the fire escape. They’re gone when he wakes up.

 

-

 

Things get better after that. They talk and they fight and they work out a way to be friends again.

 

-

 

A few months of this tentative new friendship later, Foggy invites Matt to his parents for dinner. Matt looks torn but Foggy pulls out (unfair, he knows, but you do what you gotta do), “Mom has really missed you, Matt,” and that’s that.

The dinner is not as awkward as Foggy had been fearing. His mom makes too much food and complains about the neighbors, and his dad jumps right into something he’d been listening to on NPR, and they both treat Matt like they always have. It warms Foggy’s heart to see Matt and his dad discussing the drawbacks of the two party political system while his mom pushes an extra helping of green beans onto Matt’s plate despite his protests. Maybe his heart is beating funny or something because Matt looks over to him and smiles, a small, relieved, _happy_ smile, that has Foggy practically beaming down at his own plate.

 

After dinner, Foggy’s mom pulls him into the kitchen to help with dishes, shooing Matt and his dad to the living room. They’re about halfway through, washing in companionable silence, when she hands him a plate and says, “We were really worried about you for a while there, you know, and we’re so happy to see you two back together.”

“Mom, it’s not- we’re not-” Foggy blushes and tries to protest, painfully aware that Matt can _hear this_.

She just waves her hand dismissively and plunges on, “You know we love you, Franklin. And Matt’s been a welcome part of our family since you first brought him home. We saw how hard it was for you during your split, and we’re just so, so happy to see you smiling like that again. You don’t have to tell us anything obviously, we don’t want to pressure you to say anything if you’re not ready, but you can feel free to here, okay Franklin? We love you so much, and we’ll support you no matter what.”

Foggy pulls his mom into a hug, ignoring the suds that are getting on his shirt, “Yeah… yeah. I know. Thanks, mom.”

They pull apart a minute later and both pretend that they’re not wiping their eyes before they go back to the dishes.

 

-

 

On their walk back, Foggy lets it go about 10 minutes before figuring screw it and saying, “So… I know you heard that.”

Matt tilts his head in acknowledgment, “Your mom’s very supportive.”

“Yeah.” They go another block before he asks, “Should we talk about it?”

“It?” Matt asks hesitantly.

“Yeah, it. That thing where I’ve liked you since you first walked into our dorm, and you sometimes get really close to kissing me before backing off.”

“Oh,” Matt says faintly, “that.” He flexes his fingers where they’re wrapped around Foggy’s arm, but he doesn’t make a move to let go. He also doesn’t make a move to continue the conversation.

They walk a little further while Foggy gets his words in order. “So, we don’t have to talk tonight, but I’d really like to at some point in the near future. If I leave it up to you to bring it up whenever you’re ready, will you?”

Matt ducks his head and appears to be thinking it over (it’s not the first time Foggy’s given Matt space to think before talking, but this is probably the most important time), before nodding firmly, “Yeah, yeah I can- we can talk about it soon.”

“Okay. Good.” Foggy lets the relatively quite city sounds fall around them comfortably, closing the conversation for now, before nudging Matt’s arm, “So you know how Mom was talking about Cousin Harold? Well, let me tell you what _really_ happened on that trip to Peru…”

 

-

 

A year later, Foggy looks down at Matt sprawled out on his bed, and there’s miles of skin and muscles and scars but no ribs to be seen.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I am really excited about my Bingo card, I already have ideas (ranging from a few sentences to whole outlines) for a lot of them, and will be trying to get some more done before I get caught up in college.
> 
>  
> 
> [Come encourage me to write on Tumblr!](http://www.keepitdreamin.tumblr.com)


End file.
